Parquet flooring block



C. E. TIBBALS PARQUET FLOORING BLOCK April 14, 1964 Original Filed Jan. 29, 1958 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,128,511 PARQUET FLOORING BLOCK Charles Ernest Tibbals, Oneida, Tenn., assignor to Wood Products Development Company, Inc.

Original application Jan. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 711,868, now Patent No. 2,983,295, dated May 9, 1961. Divided and this application Feb. 24, 1960, Ser. No. 10,752

4 Claims. (Cl. 20-783) The present invention relates to a parquet flooring block and more particularly to a parquet flooring block formed of a plurality of individual wooden slats secured together by one or more wires recessed in the under-surface of the block.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 711,868, filed January 29, 1958, now Patent 2,983,295, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of my earlier filed copending United States applications Serial No. 657,184, filed May 6, 1957, now Patent No. 3,118,804; Serial No. 666,322, filed June 18, 1957, now Patent No. 2,961,021; and Serial No. 670,184, filed July 5, 1957 (now abandoned).

In the manufacture of parquet flooring blocks, the industry has long searched for a practical, readily useable block formed of individual, relatively narrow, elongated wooden slats secured together in suitable fashion to form a parquet flooring block. The utilization of such slats would permit the use of otherwise scrap material left over from the manufacture of conventional hardwood flooring strips and would also provide a block of unique design and appearance. The difficulty in forming such blocks in the past has resided in provision of suitable means for retaining the blocks in assembly during the final finishing of the blocks, during the dimensioning of the blocks to accurate finished form, and during the laying of the blocks.

The present invention provides a new, novel and extremely simple parquet flooring block wherein a plurality of individual, elongated, relatively narrow slats are secured together into a block by means of one or more wires recessed in the block under-surface. The recessing of the wires leaves the under-surface of the block plane so that an adequate bond can be obtained directly between the underfloor surface and the wooden slats through a conventional layer of adhesive or mastic applied to the floor upon which the blocks are superimposed.

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved wooden parquet flooring block.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved parquet flooring block formed of a plurality of individual, relatively narrow, transversely spaced slats retained in assembly by a small gauge flexible wire-like binding element so as to tend to prevent buckling of the block after installation due to thermal and moisture expansion and contraction of the individual slats forming the block.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an improved wire-retained parquet flooring block formed of a plurality of individual transversely spaced slats and a retaining wire clinched into the terminal slats of the blocks.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved wire-retained parquet flooring block formed as a plurality of individual, transversely spaced slats bound by a flexible wire-like element, in which the blocks are capable of accommodating irregularities of the surface or floor on which the blocks are installed.

The above and other objects and features of this invention will appear more apparent taken in conjunction with the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a pair of parquet flooring blocks of the present invention illustrated as supported upon drive chains forming part of the assembly of the 3,128,511 Patented Apr. 14, 1964 apparatus disclosed in my aforementioned Patent 2,983,295;

FIG. 2 is a partial elevational view of one of the flooring blocks of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the plane of 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a bottom elevational view of the parquet flooring block of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the apparatus employed in forming the blocks of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5, and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of another portion of the apparatus employed to form the block of the present invention showing the severing and deformation of the terminal ends of the binding elements into the terminal slats of the block of the present invention.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the present invention a brief description is here given of pertinent portions of the apparatus disclosed in my aforementioned Patent 2,983,295. Briefly, with reference to FIGS. 1, 5, 6 and 7, the individual slats of a group of slats forming a parquet block of the present invention are formed from otherwise scrap material left over from the manufacture of conventional hardwood flooring strips, collected into groups on a chain conveyer 30, each successive group of slats being spaced on the conveyer by means of lugs 42 or other spacing devices. The groups of slats forming a block are grooved on the under-surface thereof to form aligned recesses 45 on the slats into which a knurled, flexible wire-like binding element 91 is forcibly inserted by tool 105 to frictionally retain the slats in assembled relation. Prior to insertion of the binding element 91 into the grooves of the slats, each group of slats is caused to assume a concave configuration by means of a convex surface 40. When the group of slats assume the subject configuration, a V-shaped space 41 is formed between adjacent slats so that after the knurled wire 91 has been inserted and forced into the recesses 45 and the assembled block is laid flat, a transverse spacing 43 exists between adjacent slats.

After the knurled wire has been inserted within the grooves it is severed and deformed into the terminal slats of the block so as to clinch the blocks in assembled relation. As shown in FIG. 4, each block comprises a plurality of elongated, individual, relatively narrow slats 32 which are retained in a transversely spaced relation by the knurled wire 91. The transverse spacing between the adjacent slats is effected by virtue of the concave surface on which the block is assembled and the insertion of the knurled wire 91 into the grooves 45 of the block undersurface while the block is in said configuration.

The generally rectangular grooves 45 are slightly undersize with respect to the wire 91, so that knurled wire is firmly seated within the slat grooves. Further, as will be particularly evident from FIGURE 3, the forcing of the free end 92 of the wire 91 into the body of the terminal slat 32 aids materially in preventing longitudinal displacement of the slats from the completed block 70. It has been found that the clinched wire 91 functions almost as an elongated staple in retaining the slats against displacement. The improved longitudinal strength of the finished block 70 is due in large measure to the knurled binding wire 91 and the clinching of the terminal wire portions 92.

As illustrated in FIGURE 4, the severance of the wire by the operation of the cutting elements also forms a depression or dimple 70a extending transversely of the slot or groove 45. The occurrence of this dimple has been found not to be deleterious to the quality of a complete block assembly.

The utilization of ductile, low carbon, annealed wire has been found to be extremely desirable, inasmuch as such wire has very low inherent resiliency, the blocks readily return to a fiat condition after they have been removed from the forming drum, and the easily severed wire clinches easily and abruptly, as at 92, into the terminal slats.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the mutually facing transverse edge surfaces of adjacent slats are planar and parallel to each other. Moreover, the slats 32 are relatively narrow so that the width dimension w of the wear-surface of the slats is less than one-fourth the length dimension 1 thereof.

Of course, the blocks 70 possess all of the advantages hereinbefore described in my earlier filed application 670,184 since all the block edges may readily be beveled and/ or finished without interference of the wire with the finishing tools or processes.

t will thus be seen that by the utilization of the knurled binding wire terminating within the confines of the terminal slats of a group of slats results in a parquet flooring block which may be finished and sized to the desired dimensions and finished without interference of a securing means with the finishing or dimensioning apparatus and the block may be bound in assembly before such finishing operations occur.

Moreover, the utilization of elongated relatively narrow hardwood slats makes possible the use of otherwise scrap material. It will be noted in particular that the deformed ends of the wire binding element effectively clinch a group of slats in assembly while maintaining the desired spacing between adjacent slats in the assembly to accommodate thermal and moisture expansion and contraction of each individual slat. The spacing between adjacent slats is sufficient to accommodate normal expansion and contraction of the individual slats. The finish applied to the upper block surface will bridge the interstices formed by this spacing so as to conceal the same while still accommodating slat expansion. Moreover, the flexibility of the binding elements allow each individual block to assume or accommodate any varying or unevenness of a floor on which it is laid.

While preferred embodiments have been described above in detail, it will be understood that numerous modifications might be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A parquet flooring block comprising a plurality of individual, elongated, relatively narrow slats transversely spaced relative to one another with the mutually facing edges of adjacent slats being planar, each slat having formed in the nonwear surface thereof laterally spaced parallel grooves with the grooves in adjacent slats being aligned with one another, and a knurled, flexible, ductile wire-like binding element seated in said aligned grooves, and in frictional engagement with the walls thereof to retain the slats in spaced relationship to compensate for thermal and moisture expansion of the slats relative to one another and to accommodate surface irregularities of the surface on which the block rests.

2. A parquet flooring block comprising a plurality of individual, elongated, relatively narrow wooden slats transversely spaced relative to one another with the mutually facing edges of adjacent slats being planar, each slat having a transverse groove formed in proximity to each longitudinal extremity thereof, said grooves at each extremity being aligned, respectively, with the grooves of adjacent slats throughout the extent of the block, and knurled, flexible, ductile wire binding elements seated in said aligned grooves, respectively, and in tight frictional engagement with the walls thereof and having the ends anchored in the terminal slats of the block to retain the slats in said spaced relationship to compensate for thermal and moisture expansion of the slats relative to one another and to accommodate surface irregularities of the surface on which the block rests.

3. A parquet flooring block comprising a plurality of elongated, relatively narrow wood slats of equal length, said slats being arranged in parallel, transversely spaced relation with the mutually facing transverse edges of adjacent slats being planar, each slat having a groove formed in the nonwear surface thereof and transverse to the long dimension of the slats, the grooves in adjacent slats being in alignment when the slats are arranged in said spaced parallel relation to each other, a knurled, flexible, ductile metal wire seated in said aligned grooves in tight frictional engagement with the side walls thereof to retain the slats in said transversely spaced parallel relationship to compensate for thermal and moisture expansion of the 'slats relative to one another and to accommodate the block to irregularities in the supporting surface on which the block rests in use, the terminal end of said wire being deformed into the corresponding terminal slats of said block to anchor the wire therein.

4. A parquet flooring block comprising a plurality of elongated, relatively narrow, wood slats having surfaces compositely forming the nonwear surface of the block, the edge surface of each slat facing an adjacent slat being substantially planar and parallel to but spaced therefrom, each slat having a pair of laterally spaced parallel grooves formed in said nonwear surface thereof with the grooves in adjacent slats being aligned with one another, and flexible, small gauge, wire-like binding elements seated in said aligned grooves and in tight frictional engagement with the walls thereof to retain the slats in spaced parallel relationship to compensate for thermal and moisture expansion and to accommodate the surface on which the block is applied in use.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 337,292 Adams Mar. 2, 1886 488,371 Smith Dec. 20, 1892 708,842 Stille Sept. 9, 1902 977,796 Hall Dec. 6, 1910 1,796,880 Allen Mar. 17, 1931 1,824,210 Jacobs Sept. 22, 1931 1,925,163 Wolfson Sept. 5,1933

1,902,716 Newton Mar. 21, 1933 1,946,646 Storm Feb. 13, 1934 2,113,076 Bruce Apr. 5, 1938 2,266,464 Kraft Dec. 16, 1941 2,577,630 Redin Dec. 4, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 403,261 Great Britain Dec. 21, 1933 1,026,697 France Feb. 4, 1953 Disclaimer 3,128,511.0harles Emest Tz'bbals, Oneida, Tenn. PARQUET FLOORING BLOCK. Patent dated Apr. 14, 1964. Disclaimer filed Feb. 2, 1970, by the assignee, Wood Products Development Oompany. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 1, 2, 3 and 4 of said patent.

[Ofiez'al Gazette May 26', 1.970.] 

1. A PARQUET FLOORING BLOCK COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF INDIVIDUAL, ELONGATED, RELATIVELY NARROW SLATS TRANSVERSELY SPACED RELATIVE TO ONE ANOTHER WITH THE MUTUALLY FACING EDGES OF ADJACENT SLATS BEING PLANAR, EACH SLAT HAVING FORMED IN THE NONWEAR SURFACE THEREOF LATERALLY SPACED PARALLEL GROOVES WITH THE GROOVES IN ADJACENT SLATS BEING ALIGNED WITH ONE ANOTHER, AND A KNURLED, FLEXIBLE, DUCTILE WIRE-LIKE BINDING ELEMENT SEATED IN SAID ALIGNED GROOVES, AND IN FRICTIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH THE WALLS THEREOF TO RETAIN THE SLATS IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO COMPENSATE FOR 